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After the surrender of Italy by Badoglio, some Jewish collaborators started going around in Athens, but nobody knew us. This was taking place among the Athenians. Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy for us to stay in the center. People knew us, they could have traced us somewhere, in some grocery shops where we had used our food allowance tickets we had gotten with the help of the Italians, to buy food etc., so we tried to go somewhere else.
At first we went to Nea Philadelphia [an Asia Minor refugee settlement on the outskirts of Athens], and stayed there for a while. And after that, I don’t remember how, we were approached by two members of EAM [15]. They offered to help us. They never gave us their names, and that is why we couldn’t find them after the war. They acted anonymously and with a lot of precaution. They proposed to us to leave Nea Philadelphia, where it was not that safe, and to move higher up. They proposed Nea Ionia [an Asia Minor refugee settlement on the outskirts of Athens].
In Nea Ionia most of the inhabitants were from Asia Minor, who knew very little Greek. There was no fear they would understand us. We told our mother not to speak, to pretend she was deaf and dumb, so she wouldn’t betray herself. And then they issued identity cards for us. My new name was Niko Alvanos. There were two sources for issuing identity cards in Athens. One was that of Evert [16], who was the chief of police, the other was that of EAM. The EAM had orders to help the Jews. And with these identity cards we had some cover.
At first we went to Nea Philadelphia [an Asia Minor refugee settlement on the outskirts of Athens], and stayed there for a while. And after that, I don’t remember how, we were approached by two members of EAM [15]. They offered to help us. They never gave us their names, and that is why we couldn’t find them after the war. They acted anonymously and with a lot of precaution. They proposed to us to leave Nea Philadelphia, where it was not that safe, and to move higher up. They proposed Nea Ionia [an Asia Minor refugee settlement on the outskirts of Athens].
In Nea Ionia most of the inhabitants were from Asia Minor, who knew very little Greek. There was no fear they would understand us. We told our mother not to speak, to pretend she was deaf and dumb, so she wouldn’t betray herself. And then they issued identity cards for us. My new name was Niko Alvanos. There were two sources for issuing identity cards in Athens. One was that of Evert [16], who was the chief of police, the other was that of EAM. The EAM had orders to help the Jews. And with these identity cards we had some cover.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel